Review: The Wand (Winter 2008)

Fr. Αληθέυω

Over the vulgar New Year’s Day weekend, I received the latest issue of The Wand, the official publication of Coph Nia Oasis O.T.O., and at once I sat down to read it. I have to say that this is the finest O.T.O. local body publication I have ever seen. U.S. Grand Lodge’s own newsletter, Agapé, pales in comparison.

The book and film reviews are well-written, informative, and generally clueful. Those new to astral work will particularly appreciate Sor. Miyan’s comparison of two beginner books on the subject (Leadbeater’s The Astral Plane and Ophiel’s The Art and Practice of Astral Projection), while anyone looking for a good introduction to the Enochian system will find David R. Jones’ review of Lon Milo Duquette’s Enochian Vision Magick helpful.

The real meat of the issue relates to magical ritual. First, there is a transcription of Aleister Crowley’s “True Greater Ritual of the Pentagram.” While the standard Golden Dawn Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram situates the magician at the juncture of the paths of Pé and Samekh, surrounded by the four Elements in Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod, this “Greater Ritual” places him, in Crowley’s words, “on the Path of Gimel,” though one might equally say that it places him in Da’ath, which obviously must be the center of a circle the circumference of which passes through all of the upper six Sephiroth. Crowley notes that the ritual is not “perfect or inspired,” and I do not know if he ever actually used it, but it is at least a straightforward illustration of how to formulate a simple magical ritual based on Qabalistic correspondences.

David R. Jones’ “Synopsis of the Method of Invoking the Enochian Seniors” describes the method used in the working record that follows it, “Extract From a Working to Call Forth the 24 Seniors.” The method involves associations between the Seniors and the possible forms of the Lesser Hexagram (four elements times six planets, not counting the Solar Hexagrams which unite the other six, equals 24 Hexagrams) and will no doubt be of interest to Enochian practitioners and students.

From the time I first came into contact with the O.T.O., I hoped to find people with the understanding and depth of experience to produce a journal as useful as this one. Unfortunately, in my experience, O.T.O. local body publications are almost always worthless. Most O.T.O. members, it seems, have no real initiated insight or understanding, regardless of what exalted titles some of them claim; nor do they seem to have much if any experience of magical work beyond the level of mistaking their daydreams and fantasies for astral experiences. Their attempts at writing about magick or Thelemic philosophy necessarily fall flat, since they cannot write sensibly on subjects of which they are wholly ignorant. It is a pleasure and a relief to find in The Wand an O.T.O. local body publication that is actually worth reading.

The Wand is available at a cost of $5 for a single issue or an annual subscription of $25 (quite a deal, since Coph Nia plans to publish eight times each year). On the basis of this issue, I highly recommend it.

4 Jan 2009 e.v.